Disney, Pixar to go separate ways (1 Viewer)

NICE.

Who gets distro now? THAT'S the fun question.

Dreamworks is probably out.
Fox has their own CGI studio, right?

Who fits?

Great news! Walt would be so proud of the way the company is being run right now...

There's Paramount, University, Sony/Columbia, and Warner Brothers/New Line. There's MGM too, but they may be sold to Time Warner.

I know there's a lot of Disney-bashing at HTF.

The fact is, however, that no other studio has the clout that Disney has in the family film business.

This is too bad it's not necessarily a good thing in the long run for Pixar. In fact, Pixar will lose all rights to the characters for the films Disney has distributed, which will include, I believe, the upcoming The Incredibles (2005).

An interesting development will be what happens to Michael Eisner. And, the way that Hollywood works, don't believe that every other studio would be willing to give the company away for rights to Pixar product. It will be an interesting year. And, don't count Disney out just yet.

I've heard this whole argument, and I'm not sure I'm buying it. Disney's "clout" certainly hasn't helped most of its non-Pixar productions do the same business as the Pixar films.

If a film is good, the reviews will help it out enough, followed by word of mouth. Pixar is already well known enough, and they can advertise their films with "from the people who brought you Toy Story/Monsters Inc./Finding Nemo" even if they don't own the rights to those movies.

I'm inclined to agree with Sean: I think the "Disney" clout is wholly Pixar's now. The torch has been passed ,for lack of a better, less grandiose and corny expression

I'm not just talking quality of film--although that should be enough. But reputation and overall customer satisfaction. How much Disney success WITHOUT Pixar has there been? not much .Certainly a hell of a lot more flops. And bad blood. And blah, boring storytelling that's disillusioning a lot of moviegoers, parents AND children.

None of that happens with Pixar. They're 5 for 5, and people are coming to depend on Pixar the way people USED to depend on Disney.

I bet Warner's picks em up.

*drools at thought of a Pixar remake/sequel to "The Iron Giant"*

Yeah, I thought of that as I was writing it. I first thought of it because it just makes sense that Warners--which has always been seen as kind-of in competition with the Disney characters (Bugs vs Mickey, Daffy vs Donald, etc. etc.) would make a move to bolster their own Family section with Pixar.

But Brad Bird is in tight with Pixar...And Pixar's been talking about their own 2-d animation projects...

Warner's also has that huge media conglomerate thing going for em...

If this doesn't affirm damn near everything Roy Disney was saying about Eisner's ways to turn off important clients, I don't know what does. Expect Disney stock to plunge.

here's the rest of the story from Wired ...


http://www.wired.com/news/business/0...w=wn_tophead_5

First, excellent! About friggin' time. Pixar deserves to see their names on their films, all the time. The Oscar noms list "Finding Nemo" as a Disney film for Christ's sake, which is a crime exceeded only by Eisner's shoddy treatment of his employees.

Second, this move hurts Pixar exactly zero. Not even a bit. Perhaps a few Disney-thumpers out there in the Bible Belt have a Disney-only rule for their children's movies, but I doubt many if any.

From the article:


I think that sums it up. Eisner signed Pixar to a shotgun deal, as in holding a shotgun to their heads. He not only got percentages of revenue, he also got all rights to the characters.

Somehow I think Woody and Buzz, Mike and Sully, Flick and the Princess, and Nemo, Marlin and Dory ... will never be the same with Eisner's hacks writing for them. They certainly won't look the same. They're basically dead characters, truly existing only on the discs we own and in the hearts and minds of Pixar and movie lovers.

Eisner is a hack. Were I a studio head, I'd move Heaven and Earth to keep Pixar signed. I'd have swallowed my pride and admitted the original deal was a bad deal they'd be crazy to even consider extending. I'd admit they deserve to control their own characters and films, and I'd beg to be allowed to distribute their films.

Delightfully, Eisner is too friggin' stupid to realise any of this. Which means we finally get Pixar!

(does the Snoopy dance)

I'd love to see them under the New Line/Warner banner. Given NL's consistently excellent "Platinum Series" DVD's, can you imagine the Special Editions we'd get of Pixar titles?

Where's the salivating smiley?

I don't care you picks up Pixar, makes no difference to me, though newline would be nice.

I am just glad to see Disney getting a kick in the ass. That compnay is but a shadow of what it once was, and it needs a mjor shake up.

I'm with Roy Disney on this one.

I'd prefer Warners or TCF. They're the studios that will have the greatest home presentation.

just look at toy story 2 compared to all the other disney sequels. if a toy story 3 came out with out pixar, i don't think tim allen and tom hanks would be coming back. it kinda upsets me that pixar can create all those wonderful characters and now have no rights to them.

eric

It's about time. Maybe now Pixar can retain the trademarks on their characters like Eric alluded to.

On March 3rd, Disney Stockholders will vote to approve the make-up of the current board of directors. Roy Disney has been sending e-mails to Disney stockholders asking them to vote "no" on Eisner and other Eisner cronies on the board.

Now, Steve Jobs knows this, and Steve Jobs apparently has no love for Michael Eisner. Think of it this way - by severing ties with Disney now, it could help force the removal of Eisner from the Disney board of directors. If that were to happen, what is to stop Jobs and Roy and the new Disney CEO from striking a new agreement with Pixar after Eisner is fired?

Some have said this is a negotiation tactic...it could be more than that. It could be a tactic to re-structure the management at Disney itself.

Expect Roy Disney to start really pouring it on Michael Eisner now. Pixar just gave Roy Disney a huge weapon to use in his battle for Disney, and this should be extremely fun to watch.

Give 'em hell, Roy.

I am convinced that Disney will not rise out of this funk until they hit rock bottom.

This Pixar mismanagement is the next step.

I'll laugh my ass off if Brad Bird does a hand-drawn film for Pixar and it rejuvinates the theatrical art form that has largely been killed off by Disney's poor writing and micro-management.

I'm a big Disney fan, and at this point I'm rooting against them until they start representing the quality that they used to stand for.

I mean, think about it. They drop 2D feature films, claiming that ticket buyers only want 3D, and then they drop the studio that made every one of their successful 3D films, all in a one month period?

Remember, Lucasfilm did the same thing to FOX. But FOX was smart enough to settle for a good distribution deal and give up trademark. Smart FOX. Dumb Disney.